MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The Russian Sports Ministry announced on Friday that the Russian national team at the 2019 FISU Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk next month will consist of 296 athletes.

The final roster of the Russian national team includes among others Dmitry Loginov (the two-time world champion in snowboarding), Sofia Prosvirnova (Europe’s five-time champion in short track speed skating) and Maxim Kovtun (Russia’s four-time figure skating champion).

The Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, which has a population of over one million, was elected to host the 2019 Winter Universiade at the session of the FISU Executive Committee in Brussels in 2013. The event is scheduled for March 2-12, 2019.

The Winter Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city. The name of the international sports event is a combination of two words, which are ‘University’ and ‘Olympiad.’

It is only second to the Olympic Games. The program of the Winter Universiade currently includes 6 compulsory sports (8 compulsory disciplines) and up to 3 optional sports chosen by the host country.